Dylann Roof laughed during church slaying confession to FBI
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Dylann Roof wanted the world to know he hated black people and thought they were criminals. He thought about attacking drug dealers, but they might shoot back. So, he told the FBI, he picked a historic black church in Charleston he had learned about online....

Critics: Alabama execution helps case against sedative
ATMORE, Ala. (AP) -- An Alabama execution in which a prisoner heaved his chest, coughed and appeared to move offers more evidence that a drug used to sedate inmates before they are put to death should not be used in lethal injections, critics of the drug said Friday....

Judge rejects pimping charges against escort services site
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A California judge rejected pimping charges Friday against the operators of a major international website advertising escort services that the state attorney general has called the &quot;world&apos;s top online brothel,&quot; citing federal free speech laws....

Lawyer: Reno boy shot by school cop had been bullied, beaten
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- An emotionally distressed 14-year-old armed with a knife had been bullied and beaten and was trying to escape from a crowd of classmates this week who had gathered to capture video of an anticipated fight when a campus police officer shot the boy, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Friday....

Oakland fire exposes rift over naming transgender victims
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Feral Pines proved to be as complex in death as she was in life as friends and family struggled this week to settle on the correct name to remember the victim of the Oakland warehouse party fire killed along with 35 others....

Chicago poised to pay $5.3 million in 2 police shootings
CHICAGO (AP) -- The city of Chicago is poised to pay more than $5.3 million in two police shootings that made national headlines at a time when the city had just begun its desperate struggle to restore public confidence shattered by the release of a video of a white officer killing black teenager Laquan McDonald....

School boss changes ruling, bans Confederate flag clothes
PLUM, Pa. (AP) -- A school district where a black student was upset that a classmate was allowed to wear a sweatshirt depicting the Confederate flag said on Friday that after more students went to class wearing Confederate flag clothing it must be banned....

Supreme Court: Kansas violated rights of man jailed 4 years
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The state violated the rights of a convicted sex offender by holding him in jail for years without a trial under the claim that he was a sexually violent predator subject to involuntary civil commitment, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday....